Improvement in harness saddle-trees



w. REILLY.

Harness SaddleTrees.

Patented March 17,1874.

l f A v 'UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM REILLY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPRCVEMENT IN HAaNEss SADDLE-TREES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,755, dated March 17, 1874; application filed January 29, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knomi that I, WILLIAM REILLY, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in SaddleTrees for Single or'Double Harness, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to the mode of securing the crupper-loop and hook to the saddletree by clamping them between the seat and skirts; also, in the forming of the pad and arrangement of it in connection with the saddletree.

Figure 1 is an end view of the saddle-tree, part of one side being in section. Fig. 2 is a cross-section through the seat on the line y. Fig. 3 is a plan of the skirt with the seat removed. Fig. 4L is a plan of the pad.

A represents the seat 5 B, the skirt 5 C, the pad; D, the crupperfloop; E, the hook 5 G, the terret. The skirt Bis made of Jthin cast metal, thick enough at the center to allow of two mortised recesses adapted to receive the slianks d and c of the crupper-loop and hook. The ends of the skirt are made thinner where they join the pad. A shoulder is formed on each side of the skirt at a, against which the pad abuts to secure it firmly in position. This shoulder is not cut square across,but obliquely, (sec Fig. 4,) so that the pads C are rights and lefts. The seat A is made with four lugs, m, two at each end, which litsnug against the skirt, securing the seat more securely in position, and forming a better finish where the patent-leather skirt joins up Aagainst; the seat. The ends of the hook and crupper-loop are dovetailed, (see Fig. 3,) so as to tit into the recesses cast in the skirt. When placed in their respective positions, the seat A is put on, and

secured in its place by the screw h, passed through the skirt from the under side. By this means the hook and crupper-loop are rmly secured to the saddle, and at the same time easily replaced by new ones when broken o. l

It is easy to see that modifications of this device could be made by connecting the hook and loop in one piece 5 but it would have the disadvantage of requiring both to be renewed when one was broken; or the mortise can be made in the seat instead'of in the skirt, and the shanks cast with a lug instead of a dovetail.

I make the pad C of.hard wood, in the same form as the stuiied pad, dispensing with the expense of stuffing a pad, and making it more durable and comfortable for the horses use. It is cut at an angle at the top end, as shown in Fig. 4, where it abuts against the shoulder u. An oblong nut, c, is let into the pad, into which the terret G is screwed. Four woodscrews, passed through holes b in the skirt, hold the pad securely in-contact. The saddle is then completed by covering the skirt and pad with leather or serge, in the usual manner.

What I claim is- In a saddletree. the combination of the loop D and the hook E, having their shanks made imperforate, with the seat A and skirt B, when secured by a single screw, h, which connects the said seat and skirt centrally between and independently of the hook and loop, as shown and described. l

WILLIAM REILLY.

Witnesses:

EDwD. BROWN, J onN F. GRANT. 

